The present invention relates to an automatic seatbelt system, and more particularly to an automatic seatbelt system which automatically fastens and unfastens a seatbelt on a passenger.
A typical type of an automatic seatbelt device has a guide rail fastened to a roof side which extends in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle, and a slider which moves within this guide to which an upper end of a passenger seatbelt is fastened. This slider is forwardly or rearwardly moved by a motor to actuate the passenger seatbelt to approach to or move back from the passenger, thereby automatically fastening and unfastening the seatbelt on the passenger.
Heretofore, there has been employed a plastic tape in order to move a slider on which an anchor of a shoulder belt is mounted. In the case that a plastic tape is employed in order to transmit the rotation of the motor to the slider, the stiffness of the plastic tape is considerable. Hence, when the plastic tape is retracted into a case in a large curvature, the sliding resistance is considerable, and this causes the large load on the motor. Further, the plastic tape has a large amount of rigidity when an external force is exerted on the plastic tape in the direction of the width of the tape.
These characteristics of a plastic tape necessitate a large space in which the plastic tape is retracted, and limits a flexibility of a design to determine how a seatbelt system is installed in a vehicle.